Tape ladder for venetian blinds



Feb. 25, 1936. 3 Q RUNGE TAPE LADDER FOR VENETIAN BLINDS 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed June 22, 1935 II I nil-In nnnn umwhwu Feb. '25,. 1936. G. C.RUNGE TAPE LADDER FOR VENETIAN BLINDS Filed June 22, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet2 fizz/6%?- 6 60196 Cfiuzge,

Patente Feb. 25, 1936 Ares PATENT OFFICE George 0. Range, Chicago, 111.,assignor to E. L. Mansur Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application June 22, 1935, Serial No. 27,884

5 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved laddertape for use in the construction of Venetian blinds. This new laddertapeas compared to the socalled English ladder tape which has been used'almost without exception in all Venetian blinds made-during the pastforty or fifty years-presents a much finer appearance, is capable ofreceiving a woven-in design on its face band, will fold into uniformpleats without irregular buckling or creeping when the slats are raised,is considerably less expensive to produce, requires no cutting tocomplete its manufacture, contains no loose ends, and can be used tohold the slats down as well as support them, if desired.

The English type tape, which is still made substantially in accordancewith the disclosure in British Patent No.-4972 of 1888, containsstaggered cross webs which are woven at the same time as the face andrear band s. Because of its construction, the-weaving of an ornamentaldesign into the bands is impractical, and where ornamentation has beeninsisted on the same has been obtained by the expensive and none toosatisfactory expedient of tacking separately woven bands to the facebands in such a way as to conceal the latter. Furthermore, the cuttingoperation required in order to open up the English tape after it hasbeen woven is not only expensive but is likely to leave either frayedends or else incisions in the face bands unless the cutting is doneslowly and with great care. Moreover, the staggered arrangement of thecross webs, combined with the absence of any transverse stiffening orreinforcing means has the tendency sometimes not only of causing thebands to buckle and pleat irregularly in folding but also of producing acreeping effect toward one side or the is lowered.

The new ladder tape can be made on a simple three-shuttle loom, with twoof the shuttles carrying the fillers and the third carrying the materialfor the cross members, which material is preferably in the form of around braided cord, although it may be in some other form. While thetape is being woven, an ornamental design may be simultaneously workedinto the face band. The cord, which has considerable strength and body,is carried back and forth to form supports for the slats adjacent bothsides of the bands, and intermediate the levels for the slats the cordsare woven into the rear band transversely of the tions of the cordbetween these transverse reinforcing ribs being specially arranged insmall free loops which in no way interfere with the even folding insuredby the presence of the rung-like stiffening ribs but on the other handadd appreciably to the appearance of the tape as a whole and require nocutting,

Shortly after the English type tape has developed, an attempt was madeto devise a tape with double strings for supporting the slats, asevidenced by the showing in Austrian Patent No. 416 of 1899, but thetape of that patent, like the English tape, contemplated the cuttingaway of material which if left would be not only unsightly but in theway, and while it could be produced on a three-shuttle loom itsstructure was impractical and it never succeeded in making anyimpression in the practical evelopment of the art.

While the foregoing statements are indicative in a general way of thenature of the present invention, other objects and advantages will beapparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of theconstruction of the improved tape and the method employed in its maneufacture.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is presented herein for thepurpose of exemplification, together with a few illustrativemodifications, but it will of course be appreciated that the inventionis susceptible of embodiment in still other structurally modified formscoming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are, respectively, fragmentary front and rear perspectiveviews of the new ladder tape, showing a few slats in position in thetape;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an ordinary three-shuttle-loom, showingthe way in which the tape is woven in a flattened out position;

Fig. 4 is another fragmentary front perspective view of the tapeillustrated in Figs. Land 2, showing the way in which the connectingportions of the cord can be used to hold the slats down as well assupport them;

Fig. 5 is a similar view of a modified form of the tape, showing thesupporting portion: of the cord crossed;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary rear perspective view of the tape illustrated inFig. 5, in this case showing the way in which the crossed cord formationcan be used to hold the slats down as well as support them; and

Figs. '7 and 8 are, respectively, fragmentary front and rear perspectiveviews of another modified form of the tape in which the cord materialfor the slat-supporting members is also used as the filler for the rearband, permitting the tape to be woven on a two-shuttle loom.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the improvedtape includes a face band Ill and a rear band H. These bands areconnected together at regular intervals by a continuous braided cord l2.The two bands are woven at the time that the cord is applied, and thelatter is woven into the bands at certain transverse lines ofconnection.

, The ladder tape may be woven on an ordinary three-shuttle loom of thetype shown fragmentarily in Fig. 3, the shuttles l3 and I4 being used tocarry the filler threads l5 and I6, and the shuttle ll being used forthe cord I2. The tape is woven with the bands In and II arranged .in thesame plane, in flat parallel outspread relation, with the freecross-connecting portions l9 and 20 of the cord l2 controlled as tolength by the spacing of the bands as determined by the arrangement ofthe two sets of warp threads 2| in the reed 22.

At regular intervals durlng the weaving of the band In and H the cord I!on the shuttle H is passed through the shedof the warp threads of theband ll, causing the cord to be woven transversely into that band frompoint a. to point b. From point b the cord is then transferred free ofthe warp threads of the band II to the band III at c, where it is passedthrough the shed of the warp threads of the band Ill and woven into thatband from c to d. From 12 the cord is passed clear of the sheds of thewarp threads of both bands back to the band H at e, which point is thesame as a. The free sections from b to c and from d to e constitute theslat-supporting portions I9 and 20 ofthe cord. From e the cord is woveninto the band ll alongside the already woven-in section a-b to j, whichpoint is the same as b. Then from f the cord leaves the rear surface ofthe band I l in a small loop 23 and enters the band ll again at 9, whereit is woven into the band crosswise of the latter from g to .h. Thenfrom h the cord leaves the band I I again in a small loop 24 and entersit at i, being woven in again from i to 71- Then after another loop itis woven in again from k to Z. From 1 the cord is carried in stillanother loop to the next starting point a, which point corresponds tothe first described point a at the next slat level, where the process isrepeated. y

In this way, the cord I2 is securely woven into the bands 10 and II,with two spaced parallel portions I9 and 20 of the cord arranged at eachslat level, and with a plurality of transverse stiff-- ening ribs 25built into the rear band not only at the separated levels of theportions 19 and 20 but at several equally spaced intermediate locations.As a result of this construction, the weight of the slats 26 will exertan equal pull on both sides of theband at the same time, and thestiffening ribs in the rear band. l (which is the band ordinarily moreexposed to the elements) will prevent that band from curling orotherwise getting out of shape and yet will allow it to fold not onlyjust as easily but even more uniformly. The lifting cord 21 for theblind passes between the slat-supporting portions l9 and 20 of the cordthrough transversely elongated slots in the slats, as is usual inVenetian blind structures.

The ladder tape which is shown in Fig. 4 is the same as that shown inFigs. 1 and 2, but the arrangement of the slats with respect to thesupporting members l9 and 20 is different. As will be observed, the slatis placed on top of the cord portion l9 under the cord portion 20, withthe result that the slat is held down as well as supported by the cordportions.

In the modification which is shown in Fig. 5,

the slat-Supporting cord portions 29 and 30 arecrossed at the locationof each slat. In all other respects the tape shown in this view is thesame as the previously described tape. In Fig. 6 the tape which wasillustrated in Fig. is again shown but in this view the slat is placedon top of the cord portion 29 and beneath the cord portion 30.

In the modification which is shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the ladder tape isproduced on a two-shuttle loom, with the braided cord 3| which is usedfor the slat-supporting members and the transverse stifiening membersalso used as the filler material 32 for the rear band 33. Thisconstruction, hke the ones previously described, gives the desiredtransverse reinforcement to the rear band while retaining thelongitudinal flexibility of the latter.

Aside from the improved foldingcharacteristics of this new tape, themethod of weaving employed in its fabrication permits of the use of anydesired color combination. For instance, the inside or face bands may beof a different color in eachof several rooms so as to harmonize with thecolor schemes in those rooms while the outside'or rear bands may be allof the same color in allof the rooms in order to give a. uniformappearance to the tapes of the blinds from the outside of the building,which color treatment is not possible with the commonly used Englishtype of tape. v 1

I claim:

1. In a tape ladder for Venetian blinds, the combination with the faceand rear bands of the tape, of slat-supporting members connecting thebands at regular intervals, and transverse stiffening members in one ofthe bands intermediate the locations of the slat-supporting members.

2. In a tape ladder for Venetian blinds, the combination with the faceand rear bands of the tape, of a continuous cord which is woven firstinto one band and then into the other to provide slat-supporting membersat regular intervals, and transverse stifiening members in one of thebands intermediate the locations of the slat-supporting members.

3. In a tape ladder for Venetian blinds, the combination with the faceand rear bands of the tape, of a continuous cord which is woven firstinto one band and then into the other to provide slat-supporting membersat regular intervals be tween corresponding sides of the bands andtransverse stiffening members in the rear band intermediate thelocations of the slat-supporting members.

4. A method of producing tape ladder for Venetian blinds, which consistsin weaving both of the side bands simultaneously in a loom with thebands arranged side by side on one level; working into both bands asthey'are being formed a continuous cord which is at intervalstransferred laterally from one band to the other to form slat-supportingmembers between the bands and transverse stiffening members in the rearband intermediate the locations of the slat-supporting members. i

5. A method of producing tape ladder for Venetian blinds, which consistsin weaving both of the side bands simultaneously in a loom with theintermediate the locations of the slat-supporting members, with theportions of the cord between the stiflening members and theslat-supporting members arranged in small loops which alternate inlocation from one side of the rear band to the other side of that band.

GEORGE C. RUNGE.

